Antilia is the only home we have in the world: Nita Ambani

NEW DELHI: The world has been waiting for a peek into the largest private residence on this planet ever since it reared 570 feet into the rarefied air of Mumbai's Altamount Road in 2009.

As the finishing touches were put to the 400,000 sq feet of living space spread over 27 double- and triple-height floors for many more months, rumours ran rife in the city about its interiors and inhabitants.

Mukesh and Nita Ambani, however, offered neither comment nor clarification about their home, Antilia. Then an intrepid Vanity Fair reporter chanced a question at the end of a longer interview of the 49-year-old, chic chatelaine.

To the surprise of the Vanity Fair reporter, Nita Ambani obliged, with the modest revelation, "It's the only home we have in the world".

Now, the biggest rumour of all has been laid to rest: that the Ambanis have not even moved into the skyscraper, which has become a Mumbai's Eiffel Tower-like landmark. They actually moved into Antilia a month before the October 2011 story in New York Times that averred they had not done so due to adverse Vastu concerns! No wonder Nita Ambani was exasperated by media "exaggerations".

Other more substantive things speculated about or surmised second hand by the media, however, now stand confirmed by the lady of the house. Yes, there are multi-storied garages, a ballroom, a spa, a theatre, a temple, guest suites and terraced gardens - just as Forbes had speculated in 2008 along with tantalising details such as silver-clad railings and a room with artificial snow flurries.

While many will no doubt believe urban legends about Antilia's in-house auto-repair shop, restaurant and beauty parlour, Nita Ambani simply calls her home "an elevated house on top of a garden" and adds that the leitmotifs of their "modern home with an Indian heart" are the lotus and the sun.

"The lotus comes from the murkiest water but grows into the purest thing," she says of her home, which showcases the best of craftsmanship in wood, marble, crystal, mother of pearl and inlay. And the family of five has personal rooms right at the pinnacle of the tower because they want plenty of sunlight.

There are still not many photographs of the fabled interiors; Hello and Vanity Fair have offered a few glimpses. So stories will continue to proliferate. And the Ambanis will do the wisest thing: rise 570 feet above it all.